Sorry if it's boring or well known to anybody except me. I was looking for a topic but I couldn't find any. Is there a well-defined recommended patch for 25p/HBR with best image quality? If I understand right most of these settings focus on 24L but I sometimes I need the GH2 as a second simultaneous unit with an other 25p PAL camera. Thanks!

+1 on the f8 thing. I think diffraction looks horrible on images but an ND stops you having to increase shutter speed, which is the only other alternative, and that also has its own weird effect on video. I guess with most lenses there's a happy middle range of apertures which work well but the Panasonic ones seem particularly bad.

I have a video camera lens which I adapted from an old tube camera, and that has a continuous aperture which can close completely (most video lenses do this on older cameras). At the point just before it closes it creates some VERY strange effects.

EDIT: While not strictly relevant to these settings, actually in low light, you also have to stop down a bit on some lenses (to sharpen them up a bit) and now I'm finding that with the better settings you can do this in low light with very little noise penalty - and what noise there is can often be pretty much eliminated with Neat NR.

@onionbrain : It should! http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/zproducts/panasonic14-45f35-56g/tloader.htm However with all the binning and reduced resolution in video, I though this might be almost a non issue.

@onionbrain do you mean Variable Range Neutral Density ND filter ?

A quick note about diffraction...

This may be of some use to some of you, especially those newer to DSLR (or EVIL) video.

Lens diffraction translates into meaning that when you stop your lens down past a certain point -- the image gets soft. In very general terms this usually means your lens is sharpest between f/8 and f/11.

So -- I was just outside playing with stuff and I had the Panasonic 14-42 "kit lens" stopped down to f/22. When I came back in the footage looked soft -- as if the people complaining about sharpness with Sedna were right. Then I placed an ND filter on the lens and went back outside and filmed the exact same stuff at f/8. The difference was HUGE -- beyond anything I've ever encountered on a Nikkor or Canon lens. Really -- HUGE -- like two different cameras. This was the worst lens diffraction I've ever encountered.

So, if you're using these Panasonic lenses (especially this "kit lens"), be aware that diffraction appears to be a MAJOR issue (far worse than Nikkor or Canon). You not only need an ND filter for wider apertures -- but you REALLY need an ND filter to keep your lens at or below f/11.

Latest project I did using Driftwoods Orion Patch

@driftwood : Fuck me twice on Sundays! Are these video grabs? http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/49205#Comment_49205

@LumixUser looking forward to your test, I have the same feelings about sedna. I wouldn't say it doesn't hold up, just that you can't push it as much as say orion 4b. But I've only had experience (and brief too) with the Q20 versions. It could just be I've not stared at nor pushed enough sedna footage though.

@onionbrain I'm not playing wery long with the GH2 and the hack settings. Have a beginner question, is Sedna also better in low light than 'dark matter'? i mean less noisy? Thanks in advance.

@LumixUser Remember that conditions need to be identical for any "testing." I've thrown out over 90% of the comparisons I've done because of a change in some condition. One of the most frustrating issues I encountered is that the camera makes certain changes when you update the firmware -- including screwing with custom white balance settings on some occasions (so dial in a number or use one of the fixed settings).

In an ideal world you can stare at the same subject under identical conditions -- and use a split screen for comparison. It's a challenge and problematic to accomplish this -- but when it's done right -- those are the results you can trust.

Simply filming stuff at different times of the day and "eyeballing it" and calling that a "test" is essentially useless in terms of a comparison.

And, it's precisely because of a properly done test as described above that I'll tell any of you with confidence that Sedna beats 9b on a range of levels. 9b was superior to the original Orion, and 9b was essentially indistinguishable from "dark matter."

Remember to buy some milk for those words, they're quite dry without

if Driftwood say Sedna is better then it's better!